mitt romney has accused the white house of damaging national security for leaking classified secrets for political gain. >> exactly who in the white house betrayed these secrets? did a superior authorize it? these are things that americans are entitled to know, and they're entitled to know it now. if the president believes as he said last week that the buck stops with him, then he owes all americans a full and prompt accounting of the facts. >> on mo"morning joe" senior adviser david axelrod said he was not personally involved. >> i can tell you he did not leak classified information as mitt romney suggests. he didn't authorize classified information as mitt romney suggested yesterday. >> michigan republican mike rogers chairs the house committee and is a former fbi agent and joins us from capitol

hill. congressman, thank you for being with us. let's talk about the leaks and your concerns. do we have any indications that they could have come directly from the white house and that they could have been blessed by the president? >> you see, andrea, it's a whole panoply of leaks. it rises to the concern where you have even democrats raising questions about the origins of these leaks, and so we know a couple of things. the most damaging -- and i would argue, andrea, these are some of the most damaging leaks to our national security probably in my lifetime. serious, serious consequences. in some of the leaks it showed it had to have a high level of clearance, covert access to the information and access to the situation room and as a former fbi investigator that narrows that pull pretty closely. as we would say, that's a clue about where you can start looking for where these leaks could have originated. i think that's why all of the

speculation both on democrats and republicans, it may have come out of the white house. >> we're talking about the number of books including david sanger's book about the covert operations. we know that he has reported from germany, from israel, from other places as well. is it far for the republican nominee to blame the president personally for this? >> well, i think -- here's what i think. i think there's some frustration here. again, you saw that with senator feinstein the other day coming out saying, boy, it sure looks like it came out of the white house. there was an opportunity for the president, i thought, to really put a halt to this, to come out right after the series of very damaging leaks and say, not on my watch, if someone's doing this, they should be held accountable, we're going to cooperate fully with the investigation, and i'm telling me people right now if they're

leaking information, stop it, it's a crime. none of that happened. so it was kind of this loose we didn't leak the information and then no pushing on the investigation to move forward. i think that's a mistake the president made and it lends credence to all of this. i thing the president could put this to bed. he comes out and gives a strong statement that he'll cooperate fully and that he's sending a strong message to the people who work for him, this will not be tolerated. there will be sanctions. i'll tell you why it's important, andreandrea. there are bits and pieces are troubling. we need to send a clear message. you cannot do this. it risks lives and risks our ability to keep america safe. >> one of the big criticisms from the romney camp, governor romney themselves, that they have not investigated this with

an independent council do. you have a problem with the fact that two very well known prosecutors, one an appointee were appointed to investigate this? >> i'm not going to question it. i think it's the prosecutors and the fbi investigators to move forward. if you're going to do this correctly, you have to be talking to people who are working in and around the national security council at the white house. that's a hard thing to do when that's in your chain of command. it may even go to the attorney general. it could go in the department of defense. so you've got two folks who are junior to the attorney general looking at two very individual specific cases of leaks and knowing that they may or may not have full availability in a way that the investigation should take it. and i'm of the camp that says you should follow that lead wherever it goes.

if it takes you to the white house, so be it. if it takes you to the didn't of defense or any other department, so be it. that is a little concerned and i was concerned. i was willing to give them lead time up front but i'm starting to get concerned that that's not happening and that's what's got so many concerned. >> mike roger. thank you, mr. chairman. joining me now is the former deputy assistant to the deputy of offense and currently an adviser to the obama campaign as well. you've heard the alkizations. you saw obviously mitt romney's speech. these are tough accusations but the charges that these leaks about a kill list, about the action against iran with specific identities almost attached to it led back to the white house. >> i think there's no one who's more upset by this and who's more appalled by this than the president. he has made it very clear that

he did not authorize these leaks, that he would never do so, that his staff should not have done so and so i think he is investigating these. he's telling the prosecutor to follow the tracks wherever they lead and he's going to hold them accountable. >> is there an independent white house investigation as well as the one that -- >> i do not know, but i do know that he's pursuing this very, very aggressively. the internal message has gone out that this will not be tolerated, that it must stop. that has happened many times over the course of the last month. he's taking it very, very seriously and he's made it clear to the -- inside the

administration. >> what fueled the speech is what the chair, senator dianne feinstein, a democrat said. let's watch this. >> i think the white house has to understand that some of it is coming from its ranks. i don't know specifically where. but i think they have to begin to understand that and do something about it. i mean there's one book they can read and they'll see it very clearly. >> now, what senator feinstein then said yesterday in issuing a statement is she does not want to be part of the romney campaign attack and resents being used that way. but there is a concern with them on the hill that some of the books that have been written clearly had to have white house sourcing. >> again, this is why think the president has been so clear and the attorney general that these investigations must follow the fact trail, wherever they lead. it's clear that the president

did not authorize these leaks. he takes it very seriously and he's actively and aggressively trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. at the sam time in the romney speech yesterday, we heard a number of things about iran, very little about soar ya but criticizing the russia connection. that the reset did not work. on the fact that iran isn't doing enough, afghanistan, he seems to be criticizing. what about some of the other charges that he made against the president's foreign policy. >> you know what surprised me about this was this was a really big opportunity for mitt romney to lay out a vision and a plan and tell the american people how he plans to be commander in chief. if he has differences with the president's policies, what are they and what would he do differently. instead we heard the same old platitudes, the same old rhetorics, same old miscarriages of his record and not allowed

new things. the only authentic is at first he agreed with the time line and then disagreed and now once again agreeing with it. there wasn't a lot of new there and that's frankly disappoint. i think the american people deserve to know what he would do differently as commander in chief. >> michele flournoy. we're live in london next with peter alexander. the fix of going negative. the new numbers behind the nbc news "wall street journal" polls. coming up, the qualifying rounds, colombia and sweden and north africa. this is andrea mitchell on msnbc. i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands

and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park.

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after hammering the president on foreign policy, mitt romney headed overseas as a presidential candidate. he said he will not criticize obama's leadership while abroad. nbc's peter alexander joins us from london where mitt and ann romney touched down. hi. good morning to you. or good afternoon i should say to you in london. let's talk about the trip and the trajectory of the trip. he's going to be meeting with obviously david cameron, also tony blair, former prime minister, and then he is going to israel, which is a big part of the trip as well, and there's fund-raising and then poland. what is he hoping to accomplish? >> you nailed it, andrea. he has a busy seven days

beginning the great britain before heading to israel and poland. his first visit is with brian williams, our anchor who's going to be interviewing with him. here's a picture that mitt romney's bodman garrett jackson tweeted out a matter of a moments ago as he was driving through the area. you see his face. really for a moment to focus on something other than the economy, is hoping in the course of this next week to bolster his economy credentials. in the conversations he's had with the last several days they advised that this next week is really about learning and listening. it's not about any new major policy pronouncement that they're going to focus on here. the next several days are focused on trying to remind americans of his credential, turning around the 2002 salt lake city olympics at the time which were facing scandal and potential financial ruin. he's going to be here, planting

the olympic flag saying, hey, folks, that's part of my movement. he hopes it's one of his turnaround moments. tomorrow morning he plans to meet with tony blair, david cameron. while the tone is going to be much softer than what you heard earlier this week. it will send a message that he disagrees with the president's method. andrea? >> one suggests that in contrast to what barack obama did when he was a candidate in 2008 when i was on that trip with him, why isn't mitt romney going to afghanistan? not to iraq, not to afghanistan, to either war zones or the scene of the former war? >> reporter: it's a good question we posted to the campaign as well and they've given us very few reasons why that was the case except logistically, it wasn't an

option. going to afghanistan, it reminds the audience at home of president obama's greatest success story. even as you and some of your guests already in this broadcast were discussing, one of the images is even in the speak a couple days ago, he appears to address it with the timetable of 2014 for removing troops from afghanistan. >> thanks so much, peter. good travels. and in our daily piks today, the mud slinging is sticking. according to the nbc news/wall street journal polls, it's taking its toll on both mitt romney and president obama.

managing editor and joins us from new york. hi to both. first let's go through these numbers because you have evidence in the poll that all of the negative ads are taking down both men in some ways but more so against mitt romney than the president? >> it is. you look at it. the president has the second highest rating since he's been president. the only time it was higher was during the debt ceiling. you have mitt romney, his highest. you have the issue of when you ask, romney or someone else. on 2-1. each candidate they said less favorable by a nearly 2-1 margin. folks picked obama. but more people said both.

50% say obama is running the campaign. our pollsters made a point. we've never had a july like this. this has never happened before. it's just different. we have sped up the rhythm of the campaign, so we suddenly have this horribly negative j y july. well, what does that mean for the next 100 days? >> what does it mean for the next 100 days and limited money for both sides. it's going to get even worse. i want to ask you this. it's an tiezment that came out of the obama super pac today. >> welcome to olympics. there's mitt romney who ran the salt lake city games, waving to china, home to a billion people, thousands of those in mitt romney's companies, india, who also got jobs and burma would not have their uniforms made for the 2002 games. we know they have a special

place in mitt romney's wallet. their hearts. >> first of all there was all kinds of broadcasters airing this. but second of all, doesn't it seem -- well, tell me what you think in terms of whether this works. >> strategically what they're try dog, it's not that complicated. this was sort of a big obama aligned democratic super pac. this is a group that has spent tens of million dollars going on bain. they're trying to underline the two biggest arguments for mitt romney. that is his business acumen and successful handling/takeover of the 2002 salt lake city olympics. it's not, i don't think, terribly hard to figure out why they're doing it.

the question i have in watching that is it too over the top? i think voters at this point are pretty smart in that they tend to look at adds, particularly ads like this one, does it break through with people. i think the reason, the concern about negative ads being dismissed is why you see president obama in his last two ads talking directly to the camera. a much softer negative, something that distinguishes it from all the other knellive advertising going on. >> president obama is way down by the economy. those headwinds continue, but mitt romney is not well liked, according to the voters. >> we've done three months of studying. we took three months of our data. these folks believe more so

thattown electric that the country is headed in the wrong direction. they have bigger faelgings about the president's job, how he's done, and they don't like the president by a 2-1 margin and that don't lean -- these voters look like they're undecided about the presidential but they're not undecided about wall street, the economy. they just seem d tamp romney's got to convince these folks that he's good enough. either the president has to convince them, no, he's not ee'. right now we're in jaul and you have the presidential stand its. we're going to see a ho lot of advertising. i do think we're getting to a

white noise. people who live in richmond, virginia and des moines, iowa, you know. >> i think we're going to see weird sheep. >> they're going to stick out. up next, the political briefing. just look who's talking. will mitt romney mayor. he explains to matt lauer why he won't be running the olympic torch through london. >> you're not allowed to kaye it? >> yes. if i tried to grab the torch, a policeman would pull me off it. ♪ you can't buy it or hope for it. ♪ it's not enough to dream about it. ♪

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the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. in today's political briefing newt gingrich is back offering his advise to mitt romney in politico live today. >> if he could relax a little bit and allow people to see the guy who's there with his grandchildren and who's

comfortable and who's just talking, i think he would be even more attractive. >> joining me now is politico's jim who did the interview with newt gingrich. hey, jim. let's talk about newt gingrich and his vice. i'm not sure mitt romney is listening to his vice. first of all, do we believe newt gingrich is going to get a speaking slot at the convention? >> it would be pretty low profile. we asked him about that. he said, not to be immodest, which i love when he says that, i'll be a presence no matter what. i'm be on the media. people will be talking about me, to me. but he doesn't have a role yet. we asked about sarah palin and what she should get a prominent role on that one. he said, yes, definitely she needs a prominent role and it would be a big mistake for mitt romney not to include her in a very high-profile way. >> one thing that surprised me

is he took to the floor and defend michele bachmann. you know, for alleged ties that no one has ever proved to the muslim brotherhood and he defended bachman for her ak zalgss. >> i'll take it further. people who criticized michele bachmann are wrong, what are they trying to protect, hide? he says the questions should be asked. they should be asked of more people in government. the islamic terrorism is the biggest threat to the american country and he says he doesn't see any downside to it aunt dundas feel like it's doing a knowing to huma abedin. >> it boggles my mind.

huma abedin knowing him having been a senate aide. she worked at the white house. she's working at the highest levels i've known her personally for years and this does soind like mike mccarthyism. >> i asked begin fwrich that off camera. i asked him. he said you can ask questions about anybody and there's often an insinuation. he said, yeah, so be it. this is a question that has to be asked. >> michelle bachman is not asking for that, she's asking for an inspection including security situations that are at stake. >> they would say they want nothing to do with this. they think this is a small band

of republicans asking questions they should be asking. we had a reporter go in and talk to michele bachmann. there is a segment inside the republican parties feels the questions should be asked, it is fair game and it's not mccarthyism. just because people are against it they shouldn't play off of it. thank you very much. up next, former florida governor charlie crist taking on the right to vote. first hair-raising moments for team usa. >> you told me this morning you may have blown a fuse at the olympic village. tell me about this. >> well, we were straightening our hair to come on the show. >> we meaning not me. >> my roommates and i plugged my

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♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports," batman star christian bale traveled to aurora, colorado, and talked with many of the victims of the deadly shooting. survivors tell investigators the gunman appeared to be targeting the people in the theater by shouting and telling people to stand up. he's currently in solitaire confinement awaiting another court appearance now scheduled formond. in syria there's been an attack. turkey has closed its border today due to the violence. and wedding bells are ringing for north korea's young leader kim jong-un.

he's married though they do not identify his wife. the south korean government has identified the wong as a former north korean pop singer. and the legal batter over voter el inlability could be critical in several swing states including and importantly florida. they've aided this anymore challenging residents' right to vote. charlie crist is an inpen department who served for florida four years and is particularly outspoken against what he calls a shameless voter purge. he joins us now. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> tell us what your successor and team is doing in florida. that i say this is necessary to purge the voter rolls of illegal voters. >> it's of great concern to me and most of my fellow floridians. it's a closing the door on democracy, if you will, by

making it much more difficult for floridians to exercise their precious right to vote. for example they've already changed the policy to former violent felons. we would give them the right to have their rights restored, give them the right to vote once they paid their debt to society. that has now been changed under the new administration. in addition they also said that early voting which is a great tradition in florida has been reduced from a 14-day period before the election to eight days before make it again more difficult for legal citizens to have their right to vote be heard. in florida we have a history of having close elections. i think everybody remembers 2000 and how close that was, so every single vote matters. the notion of making it more difficult for this precious right that so many people have

fought and died for for our fellow americans and my fellow floridians is just unconscionable to me. >> these were referred to as jim crow laws. let me play a little bit of that. >> many of those without i.d.s would have to travel great distances to get them and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. we call those poll taxes. >> do you agree with eric holder? >> well, i think he's on the right track. any time you put more impediments to a legal citizen's right to vote and make that more difficult, you impede the natural right of democracy and a citizen's right to have their voice heard in important elections. we obviously have a very important election coming this november. the presidential race is pair mount and it's going to be a clear choice where the decision will have to be made whether to

re-elect president obama or make a change. and if you make it more difficult for people to have the opportunity to exercise their right. you're not doing democracy a favorite you're impeding the process and it's just plain wrong. >> we had coverage from harrisburg where there's a number of initiatives. if people in philadelphia have to have legitimate driver's licences, do not have driver's licences to go and get driver's licences, this could really diminish, suppress the vote that would normally be for barack obama in the city of philadelphia. this could make a big difference. i was very struck by your op ed. i know you're an independent governor. have you decided whether you're going to get involved in this campaign year either on the side of president obama or mitt romney. >> i've not made that decision

yet. it means an awful lot to the future of florida and our country. at this time i've made no decision. >> what do you think of marco rubio, the man you lost to, a slot on the ticket? >> i think he's a real nice guy. >> qualified to be vice president? >> i'll leave that to others to be said. >> thank you very much. charlie crist, former governor of florida. >> my pleasure, andrea, thank you. posturing over who would get the blame if the bush tax cuts expire. they're holding a series of voting this afternoon. the bottom line is there are no serious proposals afoot for dealing with bigger issues of entitlements, tax increases and looming deficits and the fiscal one. it's been launching a new effort to fix the debt.

it's great to see you. i know you've been having meetings and conversations and talking about what needs to be done. is there any sign that improvement conversations, we even seen senators on both sides, the gang of six and other groups will come with real decisions? >> i think there is. it's not as though we don't know how big a problem the deficit and dead are now. if you look at the proposals of the past, the simspon-bowles, we've seen the framework of what it's going to take to fix the problem and we need it big enough to stabilize the debt and, yes, on capitol hill there are members of both parties who do want to work on this. i think it's difficult that we're not going to get something done before the election. and i think many of us think we

don't take a year off just because it's a campaign year. but think we need to be laying the foundation so that quickly after the election if not sooner we can be up and running toward a comprehensive fix to deal with the debt, bring both parties together on this one. it's going to take everybody at the take to get a real fix. it's critical for the country. it's unimaginable that we're hurtling toward this fiscal cliff without a plan to fix the problem. >> if there were to be a coming together of both sides, wouldn't it fall to president obama and mitt romney to set the stage and have a serious conversation, laying out the specifics, taking on the tax issues. their are sacred cows on both sides. >> we know that we're going to have to talk about hard things but this is going to require

cutting, spending, reforming entitlements, raising revenues, not politicians' favorite things to talk about except there's a broad understanding of what's required and they would welcome a discussion on it. one of the things we have done at the fix the campaign is let's have one of the debates that focuses completely on how they would each put forward a proposal to deal with the debt, sort of like if you had a company that was struggling. you wouldn't hire the next ceo without them telling you how to turn around the company, right? we all want to know what the fix is going to look like and how the party leading the country is going to bring together both parties on how to work on this. join think we're going to have some broad sweeping mandate from the election on how to fix the debt but i think we need to put everything on the table rather than making promises about what they won't do. it will be very useful to have us all prepared to put together a big debt deal that will really turn the economy around if we can get it in place quickly

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the kuhn vikz of staff sergeant luis walker at lackland air force base on all charges including rape has reignited a debate about widespread assault in the military but this is only one small step for former service members like jennifer norris who has gone forward with her public account who was raped by four men during her years of training and four years of service. now she's an advocate for women who are victims of sexual assault. she joins me from manchester, new hampshire, and here we have congressman jacky spear who's trying to protect members of the service from these attacks. jennifer, thank you very much.

thank you for your service in going public. tell me what you're trying to accomplish here and what is your response to the pentagon saying it is attempting to address this problem and doing it aggressively? >> well, as we witnessed through the lack land trials once again, that was not an easy process for the victims involved, and once again it came out that there are predators within our ranges. it's been going on for decades. we've had scandal after scandal, and it's finally reached a breaking point where something needs to be done about this to save lives. >> there were, according to the pentagon's own statistics, something like 19,000 incidences in 2010. only 87% -- or 87% went unreported according to those statistics. congresswoman spear, what can be done about this and are you

satisfied the pentagon is doing enough? >> no, i don't believe the pentagon is doing enough and that's why i believe we need to create a separate office within the military so victims of rape can report it to the separate office and no that it will be handled in a judicious fashion. what happens is there were 31 victims. only one reported it. there's fear of retaliation, they'll be dismissed from their service and that has happened over and over where they're labeled with personality disorders and they're honorably discharged but involuntarily discharged and these are careers they had hoped to be able to explore. >> now, jennifer, i know you were not part of the lack land case. those women cannot talk publicly about it because they're active duty service members. what are you hoping to accomplish, and did you during

your time of active duty, did you complain to your superiors? what happened when you tried to protest? >> well, initially i didn't say anything for the same reasons that the basic trainees didn't say anything, for fear of losing my career. and to civilians that might not seem like a big deal, but to someone in the military, it takes a lot of courage and distinction for one to actually want to raise their right hand and give up everything -- all their rights in order to serve. so when you join, it's very important to you to maintain, you know, that career and that camaraderieship and that family, and it's basically -- basically what's happened is our own soldiers are being betrayed by people within our ranks, and unfortunately they're not being handled in the most appropriate fashion, hence the reason i do support as a former military

sexual assault survivor the s.t.o.p. act, to take it out of the chain of command and put it into a separate entity that basically will make things seem more fair, that the process will be handled with less bias and we can actually do something about these predators and be thanking the women and men that step forward for telling the leadership that these people are within our ranks. >> congresswoman speier, what is the chance of that legislation getting through? >> we have 125 co-sponsors. it's a bipartisan piece of legislation. we're pushing a lard boulder up the hill. this is not something that the military is going to embrace on its own. it's really going to require all the courageous women to speak up. and men because it happens to men and women in the military, to force the military to take these cases out of the chain of command. the chain of command creates a conflict of interest.

either they are the perpetrator or the friend of the perpetrator or they have a career that they don't want to have smudged by the fact that there was a rape that took place under their command. so we really need to do much more than we're doing, and there's probably 500,000 men and women who have been raped in the military over the last 15 or 20 years. it's an incredible number, and we have got to take this much more seriously than we have been over the last 25 years. >> congressman jacky speier, thank you. thank you for speaking up and speaking for your service. >> you're welcome. coming up next, live at london, how history is being made by women at the olympics. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card!

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where it is a big year of firsts for women. for the first time ever, all 2005 nations competing in the games are sending women athletes, and on team usa for the first time, the women outnumber the men 269 to 261. julie swail is a triathlon and analyst for nbc sports. it's great to see you. you competed in the 2008 beijing olympics. you were the cam tan of the u.s. water polo team and you won a silver olympic medal and congratulations to that. what is it like for the athletes? they're arriving, they're presumably jet lagged. what is it like for them? >> the athletes that have arrived, really their main goal right now is to ak econokpl ak a acclimate to the village. so they can get used to sights, the sounds, the distance, the

time it takes to travel to the venue for that practice so they know what to expect on competition day. they'll also be gearing up for the opening ceremonies. the athletes will have to get in some training today and tomorrow because on friday morning they'll only have time to train in preparation for your the games and the whole afternoon will be preparing for the opening ceremonies whether it's resting or gearing up and cueing up for the line to proceed to the stadium. >> what about your sports? first of all the triathlon. how does team usa, the women's team shape up there against the competition? >> well, we have a very strong triathlon team. just last year, gwen jorgensen, a newbie to the sport. she's been around 2 1/2 years. she played second at the testament. she's definitely somebody to keep an eye on. she's one of the fastest runners on the triathlon. laura bennett has got something to come back and prove.

she's a two-time olympian. she's proven time and time again she can peek on the big day and obviously the big day is just around the corner. >> julie, thank you so much. we look forward to the games. we're all excited here in washington as to what's going on in london. thanks again. >> thank you. >> and still ahead on our special olympic side, edition of "andrea mitchell reports," the politician leaks. we'll hear from both sides of the debate. and coming up at 2:30, women soccer qualifies rounds. you're watching the 2012 olympic games. ♪ hello...rings

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welcome back to our special olympic-sized edition of "andrea mitchell reports." right now mitt romney is starting his foreign policy tour in london as the debate heats up here at home.

did the white house leak classified secrets? we'll hear from both side coming up. plus uplifting visits. and all eyes on london as the city puts its best self on display for the world stage. will the weather cooperate? so far, so good. ahead, mitt romney blasted the white house in a major foreign policy speech in nevada, accu accusing the white house of compromising the men and women in the field by leaking national security secrets for political gain. former pennsylvania governor ed rendell is an nbc political analyst and with me here at the table. thank you, governor. first of all, sean, let's talk about mitt romney's accusation. does he have any proof that the president himself was involved, ta the white house itself was involved? >> i think what you're referring to is the recitation of senator dianne feinstein's comments

where she made it clear that she's the head of it. making it clear that some of this activity may have stemmed from the white house. >> what about that, governor rendell? does the president need to do more to crack down, to signal to all of his people that this will not be tolerated? >> i think he does, but let me just say this. anyone who knows the president knows he wouldn't do this. and anyone who looks at this, there's not a scintilla of evidence that he's involved. that's why people all across the world have such a revulgs for the congress. i don't have a jobs bill. we haven't done one blessed thing to help the economy. and we're wasting time on these partisan games-playing. it's just redidiculous. >> i would absolutely agree with the focus. i think that's why you saw us highlighting this week the concern that we have with the

president's comment about talking down small business, not getting -- >> let's get to that. >> but, you know, look. i ran for office and i know what candidates do, but why not -- why doesn't governor romney say to the republicans in the congress the president has a proposal to give tax credits to small businesses for jobs they create. it's a good idea. it will help small business and create jobs. pass it, guys. don't wait till next january. pass it. the country's hurting. that's the message the president should be giving. >> sean, you've got a new ad out as well. let me show a little bit of the "build it" ad where you're focusing on what the president had to say. let's talk about your whole argument about this "build it" comment that the president made. how significant do you think

that is. his point is there's a collective responsibility, that we all are part of this country together. do you really think that he is saying to small business members that they are not involved and shaud not be taking credit for what they accomplished? >> i think what makes america unique and why people still flock to our country is because there's this sense that if you really work hard, if you take a chance, if you invest your savings and you've gob a good idea you can go out and make it, whether it's writing a book, building a small business, whatever. that's the sort of vision that everyone has, this place where you can come and succeed. i think what we found very troubling about the president's comments were this sense of taking away that sense of american spirit saying, hey, you know, there's a lot of smart people out there. there's a lot of hard-working people out there. you didn't build it. there's a lot of people who can take credit for it.

>> sean -- >> i don't think that -- at a time when we need to tell people, hey, we need to turn the economy around and build more business and create the entrepreneurial innovative spirit that defines us as a nation, why i would we try to take it down and belittle it by saying you're only there. >> this is the way the obama campaign has responded. >> those ads, taking my words about small business out of context, they're flat out wrong. of course americans build their own businesses. every day hard-working people sacrifice to create a payroll, create jobs and make our economy run. what i said was is we need to stand behind them as america always has by education and training, roads and bridges. >> isn't this whole debate sort of taking down both candidates? our own n b bc news/wall street journal poll, sean and governor

rendell, is both campaigns are being hurt so early and so fast and furious. >> first, the ad you just showed says, here's what i said. that's not at what he said. if he had said what he said in the ad just now, we would. have a problem. he came out, there's nothing out of context. we played them straight up. here's exactly what he said. let the viewer decide what he thinks. there's nothing literal. literally his words for a minute and then he's getting on his ad saying this is what i said, and it's not even close. you chose what you said. you're harvard educated, you've got a team of speech wrietzers, you didn't say it. we issue putting up his words

and saying it's his speech, you decide. >> i got a caution from kellogg, one of our biggest manufacturers in pennsylvania. the ceo said to me we need you to build a spur so we can bypass 219 around the factory because in bad weather we can't get our trucks out so, i built a spur. i didn't use any kellogg money. i built a spur because it's what government should do, build the business. that's the president's point. sean, i want to go back to my point. we're hurting. no one's working. small businesses aren't creating jobs. why doesn't governor romney say to speaker boehner, pass the president's tax credit proposal for small businesses. we'll hire people. it's a good bill, a bill that republicans have supported in the past. let's pass it. let's asthma tour. let's not get involved in who said what, who struck john. let's do something for the american people. >> we're going to have to leave it there. sean spicer --

>> if i can real quick, governor, i think the governor has laid out a very extensive plan to put businesses back today and they've passed several bills. >> people out of work, sean, can't wait for six months. this is a solid proposal that republicans have supported in the past. don't worry about words. let's have action. >> in those six months, the jobs -- he hasn't gotten an economic briefing since -- >> that's collateral stuff. pass the bill. governor romney should ask to pass the bill. >> now we have leash it there. ed rendell, sean spicer, a good debate. for more on state of the race, i'm joined by mark halperin. well, mark, where do we stand today? we've got the republican nominee in london and going to be meeting with a number of

officials there. how does he walk this careful line between being overseas and implicit implicitly, of course, criticizing president obama but not doing it explicitly. >> let's see how he handles it. it seems he was tougher in his speech on foreign wars. this is unpredictable. he's done a number of photos, including one with brian williams. including in the regional where they could shake up the best laid plans. thing the romney campaign faces a test in some ways as president obama faced four years ago which is when grow on one of these trips, you lose some measure of the control that you have when you do convenients here at home. >> when as a candidate he was traveling in 2008 he went to euro penal capitals and israel and superior dab and iraq and afghanistan. here you have mitt romney not going any war zones and not

meeting with any troops. >> as he pointed out, to complexity of it is much less than what president obama took on, his exposure to media, world events. it's much lower than what president obama undertook. as matter of political reality, thing mitt romney is trying not to do as much on this trip. i think he's trying to set it. the poll shols he does have a gap on foreign policy. i think he's simply trying to say, look, i went around the world, created some pictures and targeted a few kconstituencies. but i thing the impact was pretty substantial. i don't spnltite good evening to have the same amount 678 i want

to ask you because points out g again our colleague at cnbc, lawrence kudlow, he referred to the prlg having a foreign idea of how experience. he keeps using the term stump speefrp. that was raising questions he was describing the foreign never as foreign of not. the definition of foreign is pertaining to, derienking from another country. connected with foreign affairs exterm to foreign win. belonging tore o or coming from another district province ens, is have rmgs so what is your take on this? whee does that too.

words have meaning. >> they do. four years ago we lad a republican nominee john mccain who was very sensitive to statements phrased to in some kwa sort of send some signal, i don't think romney means anything nefarious buy it, i'm pretty kon obvious. i think it's going to be watched closely on thaul sides. he probably used words including foreign that he shouldn't use and the question for governor romney is does he want to open himself up to the accusation that some will make, that he's doing it on purpose for some low minded reason. i don't think it's necessary to do that. thing he wants to be more careful than e.

they will use language. we saw someone use language garage. i it's complicated. i hope people are not bothered by it and they're talking in a straightforward manner. >> thank you. as you always do. mark halperin. and mitt romney sits down with brian williams tonight on nbc news. xury hybrids on the road, including the all-new esh. ♪ while many automakers are just beginning to dabble with the idea of hybrid technology... ♪ ...it's already ingrained in our dna. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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alleged gunman james holmes'defense team is going to get its first look at the crime scene. miguel, what is the latest today? one thing that we've been hearing is gun sales are higher than usual, at least in the

initial days after the shooting. tell me about the local reaction. >> reporter: yeah, andrea. we know that gun sales spiked just a few days right after the news of the shooting. we know many people here in colorado as well as it for concealied weapons permits. it really depends on who you ask and i should also point out, andrea, just a few miles from where we're standing here in denver, there's a funeral service going on right now for 51-year-old james cowden. he's the oldest victim in the shooting. he took his two young children to see the batman premiere. neither one of them were injured. he was shot and killed. the funeral service is going on for him right now. we should also point out that that there will be more funerals

in the days and weeks ahead, andrea. that what do we know about the legal status of james holmes? does he still have a public defender or what is the defense team doing? >> yeah. he still does have a public defender. we do expect to see him in court again on monday. unfortunately cameras will not be allowed in court for this appearance but we do expect him to be in court on monday. there's been a gag order issued on the case, which means police and prosecutors are not able to talk about the evidence gathered or the case, so we do know the case is moving forward. publicly officials are not discussing the case today, andrea. >> and the one thing -- the other thing that happened which was on a positive note. christian bale, the actor, of course, from dark knight came to visit with the survivor, to the victims' families, and that was a big lift to the people of aurora. >> absolutely. he showed up here in town

yesterday unannounced. paramount said it was not their intention for him to come out here, he did this unprompted. he showed up at some local hospitals and spent time with some of the victims, some of the victims' families as well as first responders. certainly everyone at the hospital, police and fire officials who were here were thrilled to see himming an uplifting day, andrea, after so many days of tragedy here at aurora. >> miguel, thank you so much. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours, that's next. plus, we're only minutes away from the women's soccer qualifying round. we'll head back to london. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc, home of the 2012 olympic games. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller, sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath.

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for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. chris joins us. chris, we're talking london. we're talking about a busy schedule tomorrow for mitt romney. >> yes. mitt romney is meeting literally with almost every major party. >> everyone. >> on all sides. figure tony blair, david cameron, ed, the leader of the labor party, nick clegg. it's literally back to back to back to back meetings. in one way, what's most important for mitt romney are the pictures that come out of,

that he looks like he could sit across the table from tony blair or david cameron. we don't expect any news coming out of these things. we know he's not going to be critical of president obama himself. in some ways the pictures mean more than words. >> of course, right now, he's just completed his interview with brian williams which will be on nig"nightly news" tonight check your listing. the other thing that's happening is the president is heading to new orleans tonight. he'll have campaign events and fund-raising and then back to the white house tomorrow, i guess, right after air holder was just in new orleans yesterday and taking action -- federal action against the new orleans police department. they've had so many problems there. >> in an attempt to finally crack down on the corruption that's kind of played back to the police department. look. president obama, we -- obviously we know he went to aurora,

colorado, on sunday. since then he's been racing money. it shows how close we are to the election, andrea. 100 days seems a like a lot to most people but we're getting close. >> chris sill saly sa ci will isa, come on home. how is it over there, chris? what did you find? >> it's great. this is my sixth olympics. i never get tired of it. today i went into the aquatic center. ryan lochte happened to be in the pool, of course, one of the big superstars. this is a beautiful venue on the inside. very high, the highest swimming venue i've ever seen. if you've got those top row seats bring your binoculars, but it really was exciting to seal all the teams together. each have their own lane. they're getting a feel for the

water, the venue. they're all a little different. in the same aquatic center is the diving. i tell you i i always forget until i see in person how high the high board is. i took a little video of some of the synchronized diving. it takes your breath away. a little earlier on i went into the gymnastics venue. that's also where the usa teams are supposed to shine both for the women and the men. he thinks the women are the gold medal favorites although the russians are coming on. there wasn't any practicing but the women have been getting out there onto the floor. again, when you're that level of athlete, it's like playing tennis. i know you play tennis, andrea. you get used to certain kinds of equipment. it's a lot of getting familiar with the feel. >> the venue's beautiful. what about moving around and all the concern about traffic jams? >> well, you know, there's always a little bit of, shall we

say, fine-tuning that needs to go on. that's been happening here. there was a talk of a strike, immigration workers, 240,000 people coming in at the airport. they were able to avert that. officials were not comfortable with the security firm. they're moving in additional members of the army. they now have 30,000 member of the military and police who are taking care of security but they've been setting up the checkpointing, so that will take a few days. the biggest controversy if you live in london is they have these special olympic lanes who are only for people who are on official business, the buses and so on. if you're a regular folk and you happen to get in the wrong lane it's like a $200 fine and they've got cameras everywhere taking pictures. the londoners aren't very happy about that. i can tell you from someone

who's trying to get venue to venue and venue, having a special sticker and being able to go in the olympics lane has been great. >> we look forward to all of your reporting. talk to you soon. that does it for this very special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow we're preempted for olympic coverage so we'll be watching along with you and we'll see you back here friday at 1:00've our regular time. stay with msnbc for prime time, reverend al, rachel, chris lawrence. the whole gang is here. sweden versus south africa. you're watching msnbc, home of the 2012 summer olympic games in london.

it's 7:30 in the evening in historic capital city of london. throughout this diverse metropolis of approximately 8 million and across the entire length of the british isles, anticipation continues to mount as we approach the ceremonial start of the olympic games of the xxx olympiad. this will be our home for the next 19 days. hello. i'm kelly tilghman. competition is already under way in the 12 team women's soccer tournament. unlike sports concentrated around london, football as soccer is called across the

pond, football is staged across great britain, historic stadium across england and scotland and wales. today, the women began their defense of olympic medal in gls, scotland and took on a match of the nbc sportsnet work. let's take a look at the exciteding highlight. teams making their way onto the pitch. this was a tough physical match early, as you see alex morgan of usa going down and temporary exit the game but come back with a force. 12 minutes in the game, france getting the goal. it's 1-0, france. it wouldn't be too much longer before they would score again. that one tipping off the hands of goalie hope solo. watch this one. more delay after chaotic movement around the goal, she delivers, 2-0, france for